Modem communications systems, such as fiber optics communications systems, require interconnection of various communications lines within the system. Such interconnections are provided, for example, in connection with switches, receiver/transmitter units provided at intervals along a single optical line for regenerating optical signals (e.g., to facilitate transmission over long distances), at optical/electrical interfaces, in connection with test equipment, and in a variety of other situations. In this regard, various sites within the system have large communications panels to which large numbers of communication lines may be connected. A panel may be comprised of several modules, with each module having an array of, for example, 256 or more adapters which may receive connections from the communications lines. The communication lines are usually a number of cables bundled together with the cable ends separated for making connections. The incoming cables are individually connected to adapters in a patch panel, and the outgoing cables are individually connected to adapters in a second or the same patch panel. Patch cords may be used to link adapters in one panel to adapters in either the same panel or the second panel.
The connections and disconnections of communication lines to and from the panels are often made manually by a technician. The technician identifies the cable end and the adapter at which the cable is to be connected or disconnected. The technician then plugs a connector at the end of each cable into the appropriate adapter and reports the connections and/or disconnections to a central record system. This manual connecting and reporting system creates a significant possibility of human error when configuring a communications system.
If there has been an error in connecting or reporting connections in a large system, it may be difficult to trace individual cables through a maze-like collection of other cables. Also, it may be difficult to identify the proper adapter to which a particular cable end should be connected or disconnected, or to identify a particular cable end. Numerous cables in a system may have the same types of connectors and be visually indistinguishable. Also, it requires a considerable amount of care to select the correct adapter which is located in a large array of adapters on a patch panel. Thus, ensuring that the proper connections are made can be very time-consuming, and the process is prone to errors in both the making of connections and in keeping records of the connections.